A lot of you have been asking, and now I’m just letting you all know that I am, with a huge amount of gratefulness, entering my 11th season with the Stampeders!

Last year was very tough professionally. In a sense, bittersweet I’d say… I sat on the bench for all but the first three regular season games. I was glad to support my team in any way possible on our way to the Grey Cup. I did what I was asked. The road was long and it was not always easy to put my selfishness (a trait all athletes MUST HAVE) aside to take a back seat. But the best part of 2014 is that I truly learned what it meant to be a selfless teammate in spite of my own desires. And the desire I had most as an athlete was fulfilled again, to be part of a championship team!

As things went along in 2014 and i lingered on the bench, I heard ALL the whispers. Most were along the lines of, ‘Is this the end for Chevy?’, ‘Did he play his last game as a Stamp?’, ‘Will he retire after the season?’

I guess that’s the next logical conclusion when a 38-year-old 14-year vet spends the majority of the season on the bench. 

Many of my retired peers messaged me to say I had a great career, and not to worry, that I would enjoy ‘life after football.’

I could even sense in some of my teammates their uncertainty with me in the off-season. Because in all they’ve ever seen, most guys in my situation last year would not be back. So I don’t blame them. They know the rules of engagement.

After the season, many ‘experts’ predicted that I would not be in a Stamps uniform in 2015. Another logical assumption based on ‘the way things go’ in pro sports. I was even messaged by a local football broadcaster out of the blue, a WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS, that he heard from a source I was not going to be brought back by the Stamps. Obviously this was news to me, which probably also had a direct impact on Santa’s gift distribution to my children, if you know what I mean?

The experts may have had more fuel for their assumptions if they knew that I had to undergo minor knee surgery in the off-season from a practice during Grey Cup week, which few of you and teammates even knew about.

All the while, few people asked me what the plan was. Maybe it was uncomfortable to ask, maybe it was assumed, but for those that did ask, I maintained I planned to be back in Red and White. I have many supporters and many believers. But I forgive my supporters if they did not believe. I mean the odds of me coming back were pretty astronomical, when you apply my age, my last season, my injury and whatever other metrics people use to predict these sorts of things.

And so, amidst the whispers, the assumptions, the injury, the uncertainty and the eternal monotony of off-season training, I worked and I worked and I worked on doing what I said I would do…’be back’

And’ being back’ is something I NEVER take for granted. I realize the ‘impossible’ odds of playing pro sports, the struggle to last an average of a three-year pro career, the general notion that ability begins to decline at 30, and that no matter how good you are or think you are, all it takes is someone that doesn’t think similarly for your dream to end. Every year I see amazing players cut from teams and amazing players waiting for ‘just one shot.’ I see all those obstacles every year I prepare for the job I love. And every year those obstacles may be tougher to climb. But I gladly climb them.

My whole career path from the day I went to my first ever training camp at 19 was filled with situations like this year… I could probably write a book (this post not withstanding) lol! I know I can overcome, even if I don’t always. That’s the best part of the journey!!!

So, I am back with the Stamps in the 15th year of my career at the age of 39! Doing what I love! I will do whatever they ask of me as I’ve done in the past (play, sit on the bench, whatever). And I am very grateful to be doing so, and continuing on following my dream!

Randy Chevrier, #56
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